John Steffen

It’s gotta be tough to be a food snob. I could not imagine living with the idea that I’m too good for a fine dessert like the Cinnamon Melts at McD’s. For $1.59, I had to try them. Of course, it was in the comfortable atmosphere of the Oak Brook location near the World HQ of the beloved Golden Arches.

I got two words for you, “see you later Cinnabon.” We’ll, actually that’s four words, but I got carried away.

If you listen to AM 1000 you’ve probably heard the woman with the sexy voice talking about how this dessert combines “only the best parts of the cinnamon roll.” She is referring to something called the “gooey center” I think. She is not far off base. This is a bunch of randomly sized pastry chunks (?) rolled in some cinnamon sauce and covered in white frosting, then warmed up so it all melts together. It’s pretty good, and you can get it all day.

You may have heard me speak of the four food groups; bacon, coffee, burgers, and cinnamon rolls. Some day I’m going to McD’s and ordering up a bacon cheeseburger, some cinnamon melts, and a premium roast coffee just to say “I had all four in one sitting.” Wouldn’t that make momma proud?

This is a standard Cuban dish called ropa viaja ($11.95), and Habana Libre, at 1440 W. Chicago, does it very well. It’s a serving of shredded beef in a tangy tomato based sauce, with sides of rice, plantains, and black beans. My sister from Miami introduced me to this dish, and for that, I owe her my life.

My loyal readers know how important it is for me to get a protein and a starch in-bite (technical term meaning within a single bite of food, or in one forkful). I like this dish because I have my choice of starches – rice or plantains. Both of which meld perfectly with the sauced-up, shredded beef. I found myself going with the double starch during this meal. I would cut a small slice of the starchy sweet plaintain, spear some shredded beef, then push a little rice on the fork. Really nice. Just a flash of food brilliance that you can thank me for later.

This plantain thing could catch on with me. I love the texture and the flavor, especially when paired with some meat. I think I’m going to get a more savory meat the next time I go and a side of plantains. That way, I can get that savory-sweet thing going…like Garrett’s caramel and cheese corn.

This place is a little neighborhood storefront on Chicago with linoleum floors and not much atmosphere. But the food is great and the prices ideal. I can vouch for my dish, for the black bean soup, and for the empanadas, because I tried them all. They were all good and everybody at the table was highly satisfied with their meal. It is BYOB so you save some cash. I gotta try the Cuban sandwich and my wife wants to have the chicken and rice, which takes 45 minutes, so we will be back.

The Vinnie Special has ham, salami, lettuce, tomato, oil, oregano, provolone (I think), and I add hot peppers. It’s served on a sesame roll and the 9″ is only $5.50.

As I stated in a previous post on Vinnie’s, I’m going to have everything on the Vinnies menu in 2007. This is number two, current ranking:

1. Prosciutto and Mozzarella
2. Vinnie Special

Hey, don’t get me wrong, the Vinnie Special is a damn good cold meat sammy, but it can’t compare to the flavor and texture of the Prosciutto and Mozz.

You know from my last post on Vinnie’s that I think it’s great and this sandwich re-confirmed this fact. It actually pains me to put this sandwich in last place, but it is matched against a true champion. The sesame roll is good but I prefer the standard Italian roll. The ham and salami are flavorful and plentiful, but can’t compare to the prosciutto. In the end, it was not a tough decision.

I did find out some new info on the place. I think the owner’s also own the Ace Hardware store right next to it. That’s cool. In fact, that’s going to move it distinctly rightward on the C-P Matrix because joint ownership with a hardware store is clearly a key ingredient of cool.

My mouth is watering for the next excursion to Vinnie’s, but there is no rush because they only have 11 sandwiches. That means I may have to double a month or two, but we’ll get there, don’t worry.

Come with me. We’re going to the pinnacle of Mount Burger (fictional place that exists only in my head where every burger is perfectly done and you can have them for three meals a day without feeling any ill health effects).

Don’t be afraid, take my hand. C’mon, it’s on Wrightwood (1335 West), just east of Southport. It’s not far, don’t worry. It’s called Tavish, and ’tis a special place, where you’ll find the best burger in Chicago by a mile, based on my experience.

This thing is huge. I want to say 10 ounces, cooked! It’s hand-formed, and the guy that waited on us (I think it was the chef) says he doesn’t know how much it weighs. He did confide that when it’s done, it’s easily over a half pound. I agree. The size really optimizes the burger-to-bun ratio. Look at that, we are talking a burger-to-bun ratio of around one to one. You just don’t see that very often, which is sad. I’m sold on it now. To think that I used to prefer a 1/3 pounder…what was I thinking?

The hand-formed aspect is also very important. It gives it that randomness that I find so desirable. There are gaps and varying thicknesses all over the place. I get it with grilled onions and American cheese. The gaps and voids pull in the melted cheese and juice from the grilled onions. Each bite brings a different sensation of cheese, grilled onions, meat, and bun. Every burger gets its own love and no experience ever repeats itself.

Finally, I think I heard the chef say he combines multiple meats in this burger (ahh, the triumvirate). There has to be some combo of ground sirloin, ground round, and ground chuck, but I don’t have a clue to the ratio. It’s lean, but not as dry and crumbly as you average ground sirloin burger, and it has all the flavor and moistness of a ground beef burger. With this one, I was just chomping along, loving it of course. And then I got one bite that had this special burst of charred meat flavor. I think a hunk of the ground sirloin was packed together on one of the edges and it pulled away from the rest of the burger in one piece. It was a special flavor burst that made the experience especially enjoyable.

If somebody says “my favorite burger is” somewhere other than Tavish. You need to ask, “ever been to Tavish?” If they say no; you say bullsh%&! It’s that simple.

You know I love Hackney’s. I also love Blackies, Poag Mahone’s, and Green Door Tavern. I’ve had them all multiple times and they are giants on Mount Burger, but they will never reach the heights of Tavish. Poag Mahone’s brags about their 9 ounce burger (I bet they mean pre-cooked), but the Tavish burger is one or two weight classes up, so it wouldn’t even be a fair fight if they decided to throw down.

However, I’m willing to leave open that one of the thousand other places I’ve not been is better. There’s still Naha, Erwin, and Rosebud Steakhouse to try. I sincerely hope they are better, I really do. I plan on trying them all and I will keep you posted.

Let me just suggest this, go to Tavish before you proclaim your top burger, or you run that risk of looking like an idiot who doesn’t know jack-squat about burgers.

I remember when my wife went through her “food enlightenment” about a decade ago. The first manifestation of her enlightenment was a desire to eat French food. That was kind of shocking to a burgers and pizza guy like myself. What the hell was French food anyhow? But what was I going to do? Disobey, complain? Nope, neither. I adapted…yes I did.

So I order steak frites the first time we go Franco, and I was hooked. It’s just a fair-to-middlin’ hunk of beef, usually with a butter and wine sauce concoction, and a few handfuls of fries tossed on top. You call that gourmet, Pierre? I call that meat and potatoes baby, and it rocks. It didn’t take me long to develop a keen appreciation for steak frites, onion tartes, and Audrey Tautou.

That brings us to the fine Lettuce Entertain You restaurant Mon Ami Gabi, at 2300 North Lincoln Park West. I like it a lot and the Steak Bearnaise (pictured, $19.95) is my usual. Yes, paying just south of $20 for an okay piece of meat with potatoes may not seem to jive with the intent of Tasty Chicago, especially when you can get about 3 times that much beef at Tango Sur for about the same price. But it’s the sauce in combination with the fries that makes it worth the money. Actually, it’s a tarragon shallot butter sauce you see on top of that steak. The sauce has a lot of flavor and the wide fry really does a fine job of collecting it all. It’s tough to beat a few fries saturated with tarragon shallot butter on the same forkful as a piece of beef. My love for burgers and pizza has taught me the import of having a protein and a starch in the same bite, and steak frites fits that bill perfectly.

Yes, there’s probably better French in town, but my taste buds can’t really differentiate. The steak frites here are great, the coffee damn good, and they probably have the number one dessert in the history of confections, the Banana Foster Crepe. That dessert is a whole separate post, I don’t want to get into it now.

I know in my last post I said we were moving to Italy. Well, I was just kidding. Why aren’t you moving to Italy, you ask? Well, because I’m committed to trying everything on the Vinnie’s menu and also working my way through the restaurants in downtown Wheaton. Downtown Wheaton rules.

I’m not one of those city-dwellers that makes fun of the burbs. I have no tolerance for idiots that say things like “oh, I never go to the suburbs unless it’s to see friends or win a bar fight.” I embrace the burbs and constantly seek quality downtown experiences all around Chicagoland. And let me tell you, Wheaton is one of those special downtowns and home to Suzette’s Creperie, at 211 West Front Street. Suzette’s is a French dining experience that would impress any Francophile.

This is a picture of my fine entree. It’s called the Spicy Coconut Shrimp Crepe ($13). It’s a crepe with shrimp, red, yellow, and poblano peppers, garlic, cream, then topped with coconut and lime. It’s served with a side of salad and the house vinaigrette. A little pricey you ask? Yes. It’s not a lot of food for $13 but that’s why the French aren’t fat I guess. It was really good though, so I felt the price was justified. Plus, it was a special day out for my wife and mother-in-law. I surprised them with this place and they loved it. I am probably the top husband/son-in-law on the face of the earth.

They really have a diverse menu. As you would expect, there are a bunch of French standards like traditional French onion soup and a croque monsieur sandwich. But they also have things like crab cakes with habanero lime sauce and the crepe I had above. We went at lunch and it was packed by 12:15, so call ahead and make a reservation. I have a feeling that dinner is just as crowded.

Alright, you’re the first to know, Gail and I are moving to Italy. ‘Twas nice knowing you. We may actually be settled in by the time you read this. If we didn’t say goodbye, well, goodbye. Visit lots.

Why, you ask? Well, mostly because we were inspired by the beauty and simplicity of the polenta at Enoteca Roma, 2146 W. Division ($12). It’s served just “like they do in the Northern Italian countryside.” Yeah, so that’s where we’re moving, to the countryside. Gonna purchase us a farmhouse, bring in some running water, get a bunch of flat screens, and furnish the whole thing with Ikea furniture. Pinch me, I must be dreaming.

It’s quite a production at this polenteria (yes, I do say that in my head with an Italian accent and I roll the rrrr like a madman). First, they bring a slab of marble out to your table. They set it there about five minutes before the actual polenta comes. You look at the marble and say to yourself, “are you actually going to just pour the polenta on that, or set a bowl of it on that…what gives, my fine romance language-speaking friends?”

Well, they pour it. The wait staff brings a ceramic vat of steaming polenta and just pours it evenly in the center of the plate and smooths it out with a wooden spoon. Then the toppings come out, also in a ceramic vat, and also poured evenly across the top of the polenta. You give it a few seconds to set up and then use the spatula to serve it on your own plate.

They have three versions of the polenta, we ordered the four cheese version. It was a delectable sauce made with Gorgonzola, Taleggio, pecorino Romano, and Parmesan. They have one option with sausage and another with venison bolognese. We had already had a sausage and lentil appetizer, so we went with the four cheese. Something special my friends…something special.

But that’s not it. You have so many options here. The bruschetta is really original and one could actually refer to this place as a bruschetteria without fear of reprisal. They have pizza, soups, great appetizers, and pasta. Plus, it’s right next to Letizia’s Natural Bakery (they are connected) so you can just wander over there and get some dessert. Finally, the outdoor patio is easily a top 20 patio in town.

I don’t go to many sub shops outside of the chains, but I’ve finally found an independent gem, and it’s in my neighborhood. Vinnie’s Subs, at 1206 W. Grand in West Town, makes a great cold meat sandwich at a good price, ’nuff said. This is the 9″ prosciutto, mozzarella, tomato sandwich with giardinaire. It was $5.50. This may appear expensive, but it’s not. I think the price is comparable on an inch-for-inch basis with the chains. And when you lay it down side by side with Subway or Jimmy John’s, Vinnie’s clearly separates themselves as the more quality sub provider.

First, prosciutto or fresh mozzarella are rarely seen within blocks of a Jimmy John’s or Subway. I assume that it’s just too expensive. In my view, prosciutto is tastier than ham and fresh mozzarella is tastier than provolone. Vinnie’s is a better value than anything from the chain’s because of the higher quality ingredients alone.

But they also just put together a better sandwich from a construction point of view. There is a perfect amount of meat on the Vinnie’s sandwich. Not too much, but plenty to boost the flavor. Keep in mind, the prosciutto mozzarella sandwich is not designed to be a “meaty” sandwich. You definitely don’t want the fresh mozzarella to be overpowered and they have a good combination here. Contrast this to the Subway ham sandwich. Subway puts basically six razor thin slices of ham on a 12″. You can’t even detect the flavor or texture of the meat on the Subway sandwich, and the meat is supposed to be the highlight. With the Vinnie’s sandwich, the prosciutto provides a flavor explosion and your mouth definitely knows it’s there. It reflects a very savvy and caring sandwich maker.

Vinnie’s, however, has no seats. So if you want to sit and you like the atmosphere in JJ or Subway…just go there…I guess…ya’ loser. I said that with a smile, because I know you’re not a loser. And as you’ve seen, I’m no stranger to patronizing chains, so I can’t really call you out for being a chain-monger. I’m just saying; the Subway is across the street from my home and Vinnie’s is 2 blocks; I will always go to Vinnie’s for subs unless there are some seriously extenuating circumstances, like, say…a direct order from my wife.

I will be back and plan to have everything on the Vinnie’s menu in 2007!

The guys at 37 Signals have a nice little observation about Vinnie’s here. Check out the 37 Signals weblog while you’re at it because it has a lot of interesting stuff.